Studies on the Extraction Rate of Oil from Fish Muscle

Part II. Mass transfer rate in the early stage of extraction

Abstract

The extraction rate of oil from fish muscle with the solvent immiscible in water was investigated in the early stage of extraction. The experimental results were as follows. The penetration of solvent into fish muscle was caused by two different mechanisms like oil extraction, and the mechanism of dehydration did not change where the mechanism of oil extraction changed. And the most important result was that the ratios of extracted oil and removed water were constant through the early stage of extraction independent of time. With the results described above and our previous results, the following hypothesis of the mechanisms of extraction could be considered. Water and fish oil are extracted with constant ratio through the early stage exchanging with solvent. Oil globules dispersed in the muscle gradually grow large by absorbing the penetrated solvent and then coalesce with each other and make the continuous phase. This is the point of which mechanism changes and then extraction transfers to the late stage in which the mutual diffusion of oil and solvent occurs.